Goals For 2020

Like most of you, I had set out specific goals for the year and they were met with hostility and face-coverings. One of my goals was to gain 20 pounds by the end of the year. I know what some of you are thinking, "Gaining 20 pounds? Oh yeah, really hard to do!" Well, I'll have you know that my body type (ectomorphic/mesomorphic) is constantly at a high metabolic rate which means any food I put in my body, most of it gets burned and I gain no weight. Now I realize that most of Americans are trying to lose unwanted lbs, and see my problem not as as a problem, but as an ideal situation for them. Eat whatever you want and have no weight gain?

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It does sound ideal but I want to put on muscle weight and that means I need to eat more than I ever have. Not only do I need to make sure that I'm eating every two hours of everyday but I need to make sure that all foods that are consumed are complete proteins packed with nutrients my body needs to put on weight. I've done my research and discovered that the average human body can only gain 2-4 pounds of muscle per month, which means that to gain 20 pounds by the end of the year, I need to gain at least 1.6 lbs per month.

Seems easy enough right? However, as we begin the seventh month of the year, I've only put on about 5 pounds, most of which is likely water weight from protein shakes. My year started with crippling anxiety and depression followed by a long 2 month quarantine where my body went into hibernation. I didn't eat very much and lost about 5 pounds. So really I've put on 10 pounds since then!

Still eating more of the healthy foods I need is only half the battle. When COVID-19 hit, it shut down all the gyms and fitness center, rightfully so. I was forced to try and maintain my current body weight and muscle content by doing home workouts. It was a rough two months.

However, now that gyms in my area have reopened, I have been on a strict three days on and one days off schedule. I hope that this regular workout regiment combined with my diet of eating every two hours will propel me to my dream weight of 200lbs. I weighed myself yesterday and I was at a cool 185. 15 more pounds in 5 months? I think I can do it, considering the last two months will be full of feasting from the holidays.

I will continue to document the results and monitor my progress.

January 2020

June 2020